The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Mandevilla plant, botanically known as Mandevilla hybrid, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘White Velvet’.
The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Hawthorne, Fla. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new Mandevilla cultivars with attractive flower form and coloration.
The new cultivar originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in August, 2003, of the Mandevilla hybrid cultivar Red Velvet, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,238, as the female, or seed, parent with an unnamed selection of Mandevilla boliviensis, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Mandevilla was discovered and selected by the Inventor in a controlled environment in Hawthorne, Fla. on Apr. 12, 2005 from within the resultant progeny of the aforementioned cross-pollination. The new cultivar was selected on the basis of its unique flower coloration.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings in Hawthorne, Fla. since June, 2005, has shown that the unique features of this new Mandevilla are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.